# Cigars too humid or too dry? Difficult to smoke



## t4zalews (Jun 11, 2012)

My first post. Read a bunch on this website and lots of good info. 

I've been searching around and can't really pinpoint my problem. I have bailey 100 count cigar humidor and its fully stocked..only holds about 70 cigars. I properly seasoned my humidor and my hygrometer reads 70 degrees and 65% RH, stays there rock solid. I have a boveda hygrometer calibration pack coming next week with my heartfelt beads. For humidity control I've been using 4 boveda 69% packs. Yesterday I tried to smoke a La Aroma de Cuba Mi amor belicoso and it had a super firm draw with a real uneven burn. Gave up after about 15 min of smoking cuz of all the hassle. I've never had this problem with them before. After giving up on that one I toasted up a Camacho corojo natural robusto and it smoked like a beaut. I thought I perhaps just had a bad cigar the first time around. I toasted up a padron 6000 maduro torpedo after work today and it had the same problem. Super firm draw, although it did burn razor sharp with white ash with a hard draw I could barely get any smoke. The foot of the cigar was soft but the head was rock hard. I tried manipulating the cigar between my fingers to try and loosen the tobacco because the first 3/4 of the cigar were nice and soft, but then at the taper point it got ROCK hard. I stopped after the first third because of the all the effort with little pleasure. So my question:

Are my cigars too humid or too dry? When the calibration kit comes in I can check my hygrometer for accuracy but I'll probably find out its just fine. i have a western III hygrometer btw. The humidor has a glass top but no sunlight hits it. Looking at the rest of my smokes they all have the same character...spongy foot and hard head. I took out two of the boveda packs and placed them in a ziplock bag (hopefully they stay good) to see if maybe I just had too much going on although I've read its better to have more for quicker stability on swings. 

Any feedback would be awesome. I have to admit I am a noob at the whole humidor thing so I need to know what I'm doing wrong to not make the same mistake (if a mistake) with my coolidor starting up next week. Thanks


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## B.mamba89 (May 30, 2012)

Those beveda packs are suppose to be a 2-way humidfier so your not over humidying the cigars. I have a smal 50 count glass top that i have 2 boveda packs an have mabey over 20 smokes. All my smokes are fine but i do have the same problem where the head is hard an softer at the foot of the stick. My padron 2000 had the same problem, half way through an was about to re-light it for the 4 time untill i just gave up on it. That was the only smoke that did that to me. every other cigar smokes fine so far. An i did nothing diffrent to my humidor but have not bought any more #000 padrons.


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## sligub (Apr 6, 2011)

First off you can use the salt test to calibrate your Hygrometer today. Second how long have they been in your humi because it can take several weeks months to get them down to your preferred humidity. Only other thing would be if your bovedas were touching your cigars. 

There is still the possibility of two bad sticks as well.


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## B.mamba89 (May 30, 2012)

Boveda's are not suppose to touch the cigars?


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## sligub (Apr 6, 2011)

If there touching your cigars it can cause over humidified spots on the cigar.


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## sleepyguy5757 (May 29, 2012)

I've noticed more smoking problems when my cigars are too humid, ranging anything from bitterness to a plugged cigar. My humidor is at 65% RH but lately Ive been dry boxing for ~2d and have been having a lot more enjoyable smokes. As mentioned earlier, salt test the hygro to make sure it's reading accurately.


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## t4zalews (Jun 11, 2012)

The boveda's were leaning on the cigars just because the humidor was so full and they are rather large. That was one possibility i thought of and made sure the packs are now leaning against the side of the box rather than on my sticks. I may have seasoned my humidor incorrectly, but theoretically I did it correct, but wrong. When I was seasoning my humidor I put some RODI water on a new sponge and let it sit in my humidor for a day and a half, I noticed that the hygrometer was reading 92%. I took out the sponge and put a couple sticks in with the boveda packs. The humidity dropped to 68% so I put in 2 boxes of cigars so I had a total of about 65 sticks. Is it possible that my walls were super saturated and the stoges just absorbed all the excess humidity in the walls? The cedar didn't feel wet. but this is the only thing I can think that would logically happen. Maybe I just didn't season it correctly? I'm going to leave my top open for a couple hours to maybe release some of the moisture in the cigars. the cigars I've tried to smoke don't taste bad, they actually taste good, just so little smoke and terrible burn. Any correlation with the torpedo styles with such terrible draw and the regular rounded ends smoke fine? Just lit up a carrillo short run that i picked up that store a few days ago and it smoked perfectly if that is any indication. Thanks for all the quick replys


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## E Dogg (Mar 23, 2011)

This doesn't need to be over complicated. You are smoking an organic substance that's made entirely by hand. Now. If ALL the cigars smoke this way then I would say you might be doing something wrong, but 2 sticks?


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## zephead61 (Apr 18, 2012)

It's not good to have your humidor so packed with cigars that there is no circulation. It should only be about 80% full. You might need an additional humi.


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## ckay (May 10, 2010)

Might be a dumb question but are you clipping off enough of the cap?


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## hachigo (Feb 14, 2012)

E Dogg said:


> This doesn't need to be over complicated. You are smoking an organic substance that's made entirely by hand. Now. If ALL the cigars smoke this way then I would say you might be doing something wrong, but 2 sticks?


I vote this, especially if the Padron still had razor sharp burn.


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## t4zalews (Jun 11, 2012)

I clipped my normal amount and it wasnt enough, so i clipped off a little more, still not enough, so I clipped all the way to the end of the cap and still was hitting weird.


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## t4zalews (Jun 11, 2012)

zephead61 said:


> It's not good to have your humidor so packed with cigars that there is no circulation. It should only be about 80% full. You might need an additional humi.


The coolidor is being started next week. I will be transferring sticks to make more adequate room. I did not think of this as I've always read more cigars, more stability.


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## Danfish98 (Jun 5, 2011)

When most of your sticks are smoking fine that's an indication that your humidity is fine. I've noticed that my cigars from either Cbid or Famous need about 3 months to get down to the right RH because of how much they overhumidify for shipment. The other possibility, other than you just got a couple of poorly constructed cigars, that happens from time to time unfortunately, is that some cigars like lower humidity than others. My Padron 2000 maduros are smoking better than anything else I've got right now and I'm keeping them at around 62%, so that cigar might just like it a bit dryer than others. If you have another one try dry boxing for a couple days and see if that helps.


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## t4zalews (Jun 11, 2012)

Too see if they were too humid I took out all the boveda packs last night and will have them mettle for a couple of days. Looked at the RH this morning and it was 64% so they must not be dry. Is there anything bad about letting the RH drop down to 60% then putting a couple boveda packs back in?


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## Danfish98 (Jun 5, 2011)

t4zalews said:


> Too see if they were too humid I took out all the boveda packs last night and will have them mettle for a couple of days. Looked at the RH this morning and it was 64% so they must not be dry. Is there anything bad about letting the RH drop down to 60% then putting a couple boveda packs back in?


Boveda packs are pretty reliable at holding humidity stable so I wouldn't worry too much about your humidity. RH fluctuations aren't good for the cigars, it can cause wrapper damage. Dropping to 60% probably won't cause that but I'd rather be safe than sorry.


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## Stinkdyr (Jun 19, 2009)

If the draw on your cigars feels too tight, your rh% is too high. Drop it down 5% and see how they smoke then.


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## DrRus (Jun 5, 2012)

E Dogg said:


> This doesn't need to be over complicated. You are smoking an organic substance that's made entirely by hand. Now. If ALL the cigars smoke this way then I would say you might be doing something wrong, but 2 sticks?


+1

You are over-thinking a couple of bad sticks.


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## don24 (Apr 1, 2012)

if new shipments are over humidified how long will they increase over all humidity in box and does this affect other sticks in the box with them


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## Quine (Nov 9, 2011)

don24 said:


> if new shipments are over humidified how long will they increase over all humidity in box and does this affect other sticks in the box with them


That depends on how many sticks are in there and how many you add. Where do you live? Is the ambient humidity usually higher or lower than where you want it in your humidor? I think you hit a few bad sticks. You should get a good draw tool and use it when those initial draws are too tight. Simple ones are not expensive and will save many cigars.

There is no problem letting Bovida packs touch your cigars. This is not the case with other humidifiers, but that is one of Bovida's advantages -- their disadvantages being price and non-reuseability.

Personally I think the "over-humidified in shipment" thing is over hyped. Your shipments may be a little over-humidified but not by a lot. I smoke a stick ROTT from almost every shipment I get from every vendor and rarely have any problem with them. Still it doesn't hurt to let them sit around for a few weeks in your humidor, but again, think about the RH where you live. If you open your humidor 2 or 3 times a day and the ambient humidity is 85% (like you live in Miami), then your humidification system is really struggling to lower humidity (which is harder to do) rather than raise it.


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## sleepyguy5757 (May 29, 2012)

Danfish98 said:


> When most of your sticks are smoking fine that's an indication that your humidity is fine. I've noticed that my cigars from either Cbid or Famous need about 3 months to get down to the right RH because of how much they overhumidify for shipment. The other possibility, other than you just got a couple of poorly constructed cigars, that happens from time to time unfortunately, is that some cigars like lower humidity than others.


I agree with the 3 months rest, smoked a Riqueza ROTT wasn't too impressed revisited 3 mos later definitely more enjoyable. Couldve been a change in my palate, but I like to think it was the extra rest.


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## t4zalews (Jun 11, 2012)

I took out the boveda packs yesterday and just let the stick mettle. RH is staying at 64%. Pulled out another mi amor tonight and lit it up. I was able to smoke it, but the burn was still very uneven. I think I'm going to leave them out for another couple of days and see what the hygro says. Cigar had good taste but half way through almost went out with about an inch run on one side. Touched it up and got a real even burn the last third. Hopefully I've solved my problem. Got some prensados I really want to cut up but don't want to have a bad smoke.


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## t4zalews (Jun 11, 2012)

Quick question...I took all the boveda packs out on thursday and my RH is staying around 64-65%. Should I just leave them out until the RH drops a couple points or should I put them back in?


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## Danfish98 (Jun 5, 2011)

If you're staying at 64 to 65% I'd leave it alone for now as that's perfect. Getting beads in there will help a lot as they are excellent and holding humidity stable.


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## Johnnie (Aug 28, 2011)

Quine said:


> There is no problem letting Bovida packs touch your cigars. This is not the case with other humidifiers, but that is one of Bovida's advantages -- their disadvantages being price and non-reuseability.


I love my bovidas!

I maybe totally ignorant and really messing things up in my humidors, but I have had good success " recharging" Bovida packets in a large sealed Tupperware container with a slighty smaller Tupperware container with distilled water and left to mingle for a week or so.

Just to clarify, the packets are then placed around the container with the distilled water in it and not left soaking in the distilled water. The theory I was operating off of was that the distilled water would vaporize in the sealed tupperware container and then be absorbed by the "hungry" packets as they are a two way regulating system and would pick up any excess humidity in the container until all was equal as in a socialist society. But without the high taxes.

Yes, I am a cheap bastard...


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## Quine (Nov 9, 2011)

Johnnie said:


> Just to clarify, the packets are then placed around the container with the distilled water in it and not left soaking in the distilled water. The theory I was operating off of was that the distilled water would vaporize in the sealed tupperware container and then be absorbed by the "hungry" packets as they are a two way regulating system and would pick up any excess humidity in the container until all was equal as in a socialist society. But without the high taxes.
> 
> Yes, I am a cheap bastard...


The theory makes sense but only if once dried out the gel inside the packets (which when dried turns into a solid) gets back to its original gelled state. You would be able to tell easily enough by feeling the packets. If they feel like they have little solid beads in them or like very thin pieces of styrofoam, then they are not being fully recharged. That doesn't mean your technique doesn't work. It may bring them back enough to use for a while, possibly over and over again. But never fully back to like-new condition.


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## pittjitsu (Mar 30, 2012)

Quine said:


> The theory makes sense but only if once dried out the gel inside the packets (which when dried turns into a solid) gets back to its original gelled state. You would be able to tell easily enough by feeling the packets. If they feel like they have little solid beads in them or like very thin pieces of styrofoam, then they are not being fully recharged. That doesn't mean your technique doesn't work. It may bring them back enough to use for a while, possibly over and over again. But never fully back to like-new condition.


they seem to fully recharge to me. They get nice and jelly like and seem to last just as long as the original run. I let mine sit for 10 days though. I was in no hurry.


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## pittjitsu (Mar 30, 2012)

Double post


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## Quine (Nov 9, 2011)

pittjitsu said:


> they seem to fully recharge to me. They get nice and jelly like and seem to last just as long as the original run. I let mine sit for 10 days though. I was in no hurry.


No problem letting them sit for a while. This was a great discovery! Thanks for the tip. I will certainly make use of it.


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## smokin3000gt (Apr 25, 2012)

I just wanted to chime in and say +1 on recharging b-packs. I've turned a couple small rock hard ones back to new again in a bag with a wet paper towl (distilled water goes without saying). Completely gelled again.


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## t4zalews (Jun 11, 2012)

Finally got my cooledor up and running and transferred half of the smokes from my desktop to the coolerdor. I picked up 5 cedar shelves from cheaphumidors and they work awesome. Also threw in an extra large HF 65% bead tube in my desktop to hopefully draw some moisture out of the cigars. I tried smoking an AB family blend yesterday and was only to get through the first third but then gave up because of how hard the draw was. Too bad too as I was enjoying the flavors it was giving off. Calibrated my original hygro and it was -3% off. Put that one in the coolerdor and got a new calibratable hygro for the desktop. Hopefully the XL HF tube will make the sticks in the desktop smokable again. Some I can smoke, but even they are on the wet side. Some are completely unsmokable. How long on average would over hydrated cigars take to come back to normal? I have some in there I'm really looking forward to trying, but they aren't ready yet to be enjoyed


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## t4zalews (Jun 11, 2012)

So I had this happen this afternoon. The cigar was literally swelling the whole way down to the point where the wrapper was cracking and breaking off. Firm draw and terrible burn; too humid??? I had the same cigar one a week ago, from the same location, and it burned perfectly. If its too humid, is it possible that when I seasoned my humidor it absorbed too much water? My hygro has been reading 67 temperature and 65-66% RH, I even calibrated the hygrometer (digital). Should I move the rest of my smokes in the humidor to my coolerdor and re-season the humidor?


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## Milhouse (Oct 22, 2011)

if everything is calibrated, give your sticks a few weeks to calm down.

don't over think this, it's just a cigar.8)


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## slevy007 (Apr 14, 2005)

your not saturating the HF beads, are you? Also, you may want to try taking the cigar(s) out in the morning that you are planning on smoking that night... just let them sit out, I do this fairly often.. seems to make them smoke better, but idk..


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